


Nothing Is Ever Simple

by ImaginationisKey996



Category: GOT7
Genre: ???? - Freeform, Alternate Universe - College/University, I feel like this is going to be a long one, M/M, Slow Build, idk man, some mafia stuff, spy AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-07-27 06:32:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7607476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaginationisKey996/pseuds/ImaginationisKey996
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agent 17 and Agent 4 are on a mission to retrieve a family heirloom for an unidentified client.  Things become a lot more complicated when they're caught mid mission by the so called thief's roommate.  Through a series of lies and hijinks one would think things couldn't possibly get more complicated.  Unfortunately nothing about being spy is ever simple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay big ole' disclaimer! I don't actually know much about anything ever so I hope you guys will bear with me if there are some inaccuracies with anything! Also don't be afraid to correct me in the comments. Constructive criticism is always appreciated :D Anyway, I love you all and I will try to update as frequently as I can!!

_Agent 17 and Agent 4, please report to the boss’ office for your briefing._

Youngjae looked up from where he was filing away the paper work for his last mission. He slipped the papers into the appropriate folder and slid it into its place in his filing cabinet. Each special agent was assigned a cabinet that would house all the details of each mission they were assigned. A green sticker was placed on the file for each completed mission and red stickers were used for ones that were still in progress. Youngjae’s cabinet was crammed full of files, each one with a green sticker slapped on the front. He was well known for his extraordinary turnover time and he had the best completion record in the entire company, with his partner coming a close second. The two of them were excellent agents on their own, but together they made the most efficient team in the entire agency. 

The agency dealt mostly with collecting and distributing information that some people in power may not want the public to know about. It was each agents duty to seek out fraud, corruption and injustice, to document it and expose it anonymously to the public once they made sure their information was sound. Each agent went through hand to hand combat training and they all carried guns, despite rarely needing to use them. It was more of a precaution than a necessity. In fact many agents went through their entire career without ever firing a shot. 

Youngjae, Agent 17, and Mark, Agent 4, excelled in collecting information. Both of them were observant without being obvious and they were good at getting people to trust them, Mark with a decent amount of flirting and Youngjae with a childlike innocence that made him appear completely harmless. They both knew how to use what they were born with to gather information.

Another part of their job was attaining information through less than honest means. They had, on more than one occasion had to break in to a secure facility to gather the information they needed to push the authorities in the right direction. In short they were the best spies that the agency had to offer and it was time for them to begin their new mission.

Youngjae began to walk down the long hallway of their headquarters, an old office building that was owned by one of the higher ups in the agency, his black oxfords clipping against the polished floors. Another pair of footsteps joined his as Mark caught up to him.

“What do you think the boss has planned for us this time?” Mark asked, mischievous grin plastered on his face and an excited glimmer in his eyes. 

“I have no idea. I just finished the paper work on that judge and I hoping for a couple days of down time before he needed us again.” Youngjae answered, slowing his pace so that he and Mark were walking side by side.

“I hope its another business man. Those are my favourite.” Mark’s smile grew even wider as he thought about their potential mission. 

“Oh god, I hope not. Business men always mean stuffy gallery parties, black tie events, poor catering and some asshole just trying to show off how much money he’s got.” Youngjae says with a look of disgust. 

“You have to admit, though, it’s majorly satisfying when you catch them.”

“True.” Youngjae says with a shrug as they reach their boss’ office door. “What ever it is, I hope its simple.”

Mark let out a soft chuckle as he reached for the door knob. “Nothing about this job is ever simple. You should know that by now, kid.”

“I resent that! I’m only, what, three years younger than you? That hardly makes me—“

Youngjae cut himself off abruptly. He had expected to be dealing with his and Mark’s supervisor, Jinyoung, or Junior as everyone under his command called him. He certainly didn’t expect to see the head of their entire operation reclining in the sleek leather chair that sat behind Junior’s desk. Their supervisor stood at Mr. Park’s right shoulder, hands folded respectfully behind his back, for not only was Mr. Park Junior's boss, he was also his father. 

Youngjae and Mark both bowed respectfully, on full alert as soon as they had entered the room. They saw that the files the agency had compiled about the two of them were laying open on the desk along with a sleek black folder that was unfamiliar to the two agents.

“Mr. Park. What a pleasant surprise. We weren’t expecting to see you until the quarterly assesments.” Mark says. To any outsider he looks like a picture of control. It would appear that he is in command of the room. Youngjae knows better. He can see that Mark is guarded, suspicious and, most of all, frightened. There aren’t a ton of reasons why Mr. Park would show up at their agency unannounced. Either something had gone wonderfully right or something had gone horribly wrong. Mr. Park’s stern expression and the tension in the air made Youngjae more inclined to believe it was the latter. 

“Yes, Agent 4, I was also not expecting this unscheduled meeting but something came up.” Mr. Park pushed the sleek black folder towards the two young agents. Mark picks the file up from the desk and opens it quickly scanning the contents before looking at their superior.

“We don’t deal in the theft of material possessions. Our job is to collect and distribute information. We’re spies, not thieves.” Mark says.

Youngjae takes the file out of mark’s hand and looks at the contents. Inside there is a photo of a ring. It looks old. It had a thick silver band that appears to be made from silver tree branches woven together. In the centre there is a stone set into the band thats a milky white with shocks of sky-blue streaking through it. It looks like some on had captured a cloudy summer sky in a tear drop and pressed it into silver tree branches, twisting them until they formed a ring. There is also a photo of young man around Mark’s age. It had appears to have been taken out of a car window from a considerable distance away. Youngjae could just make out the crest of the local university on one of the pillars behind the man in the photograph.

The only other thing in the file is a sheet of information, presumably about the man in the photo. It had his name, (Jackson Wang, Youngjae filed that away for later.) His birthday, height, weight, parents name, address, the whole nine yards.

“So what, this ring is important to someone and this guy has it? And you want us to get it back?” Youngjae said. “What’s the catch?”

“The ring belongs to an old friend of mine. It is a family heirloom passed down from the head of the family to the next in line for generations. I accepted this task as a favour to him. I suppose the catch is that no one outside this room can know whats going on. Not any civilians, not the police, not the government, not even any other agents. Any information exchanged cannot leave this room. I am entrusting you two with this case because you are our best agents and I believe that you can complete this task without any complications.”

“Can we at least know who we’re working for?” Mark asks, still tense. 

Mr. Park smiles a little.

“I’m afraid that’s confidential.”

He stands and gathers the files on agents 4 and 17 leaving the black file with Youngjae. 

“I trust that you’ll take good care of that, Agent 17.” He says. “Junior will brief the two of you on the extraction plan. Good day to you both and good luck.”

And with that he sweeps out of the room, body guards following him closely as soon as he exits the room. The tension seems to have followed the head of the operation and Junior finally relaxes from his place to the right of his usual chair. 

“Okay agents, here’s the plan.”


	2. Chapter 2

The plan, as it turns out, involves breaking into the student dorms while Jackson Wang is out at one of his night classes. Though thieving isn’t something they usually do, the job itself should be relatively simple. A quick in and out with no complications.

At least that was the plan. 

Mark and Youngjae sat in their car, parked outside of the student housing unit that the file had listed. 

“I want this done as quickly and quietly as possible. In and out. No fucking around, alright?” Junior barked through the agents’ earpieces. 

“Please Junior, since when have we ever fucked around on the job. Have a little faith.” Mark snarked back. “Plus, quick and quiet certainly wasn’t what you wanted last ni—“ 

Youngjae smacked Mark on the shoulder, hard, looking incredibly scandalized. There was an exasperated sigh from the other end of their earpieces. “Agent 4 if you could please concentrate on the mission at hand, that would be greatly appreciated.”

Youngjae tuned out the bickering between the other two as a man about their age walkes out the front door of the student housing building. 

“Hey. Hey! I think thats him. Youngjae says, slapping Makrs shoulder again. The man in question heads straight past their car. It is undoubtably Jackson Wang. 

“Alright, the target has left the building. We’re heading in now.” With that Youngjae steps out of the car, closing his door carefully behind him. Mark sobers and follows suit. The two have dressed down to blend in with the student population. They have exchanged their button downs and blazers for big hoodies and jeans. Youngjae has even put his earrings in. 

Step one is to get through the doors to the building. Its not a very convenient lock to pick seeing as though, even though its quite late, there are a considerable amount of students milling around the courtyard. Mark sees a short man with bright blonde hair making his way toward the very building they’re trying to enter. He approaches the young man, probably a first year, and turns on the charm. Youngjae can’t hear what’s being said from where he’s standing, but he can guess by the way Mark looks sheepish while still seeming to exude charisma that he’s fabricating some lie that’ll get them into the building. 

When Mark and the small boy turn to look at him he smiles wide, allowing his cheeks to push his eyes into little slits. He waves cutely with one hand before the two turn back to their conversation. Before he knows it the small blonde is blushing and producing his keys and Mark is beckoning him over to the door. 

 

“Thank you so much Jihoon, I really appreciate this. And I’ll be certain to contact you about that music equipment.” Mark says with his signature, charming smile as the small blonde makes his way towards his room with a cute wave and a blush. 

“Alright, what room are we heading to?”

“317. Top floor.” 

“Up we go.”

They get into the elevator and press the button for the third floor. Youngjae pulls a palm sized, black case out of his hoodie pocket. The elevator doors open again and the two spies make their way to room 317.

Youngjae kneels in front of the door, pulling various silver rods out of the case and slipping them into the lock. Mark stands infront of him, keeping watch for any students that might be wandering through the halls. 

Youngjae works quickly, though, and soon enough there is a soft click as the lock gives way and Mark turns the door handle, allowing the two of them to slip inside with zero detection. Mark pats Youngjae on the back and smiles at him before gesturing that the two of them should split up in order to cover more ground. 

Youngjae starts in the living room and Mark in the conjoined kitchen. They work quickly and quietly, not wanting to give other students on the floor any reason to be suspicious. Youngjae is elbows deep in the couch cushions, Mark having disappeared behind the kitchen counter at some point when the hear the quietest creak of door hinges opening somewhere within the appartment. 

Youngjae freezes and Marks head pops up from behind the counter, eyes wide, terror evident on his face. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone home. They had seen Jackson Wang leave the building and that definitely wasn’t the front door. 

“Junior, does Jackson Wang have a roommate?” Youngjae whispers harshly into his earpiece.

“We observed the target for a full week and there was no sign of anyone else living in the apartment with him. Why? What’s going on?” Junior answers, voice static through the earpiece. 

“Aborting mission. Returning to HQ to re-evaluate with additional information.” Youngjae responds, backing towards the front door, heart thundering in his chest, Mark is by his side now and the two are on high alert just praying that they can make it out the front door and into the stairwell before whoever is in the house realizes anyone else is here. There are soft footsteps heading towards the kitchen. They need to get out know if they have any hope of getting out without being detected.

Suddenly, there is a dull thud and Mark is tripping backwards and landing hard on the floor and a small siamese cat is sprinting off into the darkness of the living room. 

Youngjae and Mark freeze, not even daring to breathe. They wait for the footsteps to start moving again. They wait. And they wait. 

Slowly the footsteps start up again. The spies are just about at the door when Youngjae slaps a hand over his nose and mouth. Mark’s head snaps towards him, eyes wide as Youngjae lets out a series of barely muffled sneezes. 

An almost certainly male voice yells out “Whose there?” and Youngjae leans over, rips out Mark’s earpiece and shoves it down his shirt before doing the same to his own. The light above them flashes on, blinding, for a moment and standing in front of them is, indeed, a man. 

He’s probably around their age, with dark intense eyes, black hair and a sharply chiseled face. Youngjae would consider him extraordinarily handsome had they been meeting under literally any other circumstance. Right now, though, all he can focus on is that this man is standing in front of them, only clad in boxers, brandishing a large, wooden spoon threateningly above his head while Mark remains on the floor staring wide eyed up at this man. Youngjae still has one hand clasped over his nose and mouth and he too is staring up at this man, who mostly just looks confused now. 

Said man slowly lowers his spoon, eye brows raised as he takes in the disaster before him, clearly still alert, in case anyone tries to make a move.

“Who the hell are you?”


	3. Chapter 3

“Uuuuuuuuuh…” Youngjae answers, quite intelligently if he does say so himself. He should be better at this whole coming up with backstory on the spot thing. He’s usually better at it but, to be fair, the half nakedness of the man in front of him is very distracting. 

Man With Spoon still seems to be waiting for an answer, eyebrows inching closer and closer to his hairline the longer he has to wait.

Youngjae pulls his shit together and says, “I’m Youngjae and this is my friend Mark.” Evidently they will not be using any fake names here, 

“Okay. And would you mind informing me what the hell you're doing in my apartment?” Man with spoon asks, clearly still very, justifiably, confused. 

“Well…” Youngjae is trying desperately to think up some backstory, some reason for them to be in this man apartment. “We live here!” 

Great.

Spectacularly done, Youngjae. He thinks to himself. “Not here, obviously. Cause you live here. But somewhere around here, I think…” Youngjae notices that Mark is still seated on the floor where he fell, staring up at Youngjae, not wanting to say anything that might contradict his story. Youngjae has always been better at backstory things anyways. 

“You see, me and my friend here just transferred to this university so we thought as a celebration of a new stage in our lives we would go out an celebrate. Unfortunately, Mark had a little too much fun and he lost the paper with our room number on it. He insisted that it was this room so we came in but obviously he was wrong.” Youngjae fake glared down at Mark. Inside he was very proud of coming up with a very believable story. 

Mark swayed a little from where he was seated and let out a very believable drunk giggle. “I could have sworn this was the room number.” He is doing a spectacularly believable job of acting drunk. Man with spoon relaxes considerably. It seems as though he believes their story. 

“You’re probably supposed to be next door. It the only empty room on this floor.” He says. It seems now that the danger has passed he is beginning to see the humour in the situation. 

“Oh, Thanks! You’re probably right.” Youngjae says with an adorable smile, hoping to charm man with spoon even further, praying that he won’t find any holes in their story. He leans down and pulls Mark to his feet, he slings an arm around his shoulder and begins to back out of the apartment. “Thanks for the help, uh..”

“Jaebum.” Man with spoon says, with a hint of a smile. Youngjae nearly trips on the door frame.

“Thanks for the help. Jaebum. Sorry for breaking into your house.” Youngjae beams at him. 

“It’s alright. It’s not like you did any real damage anyways.” Youngjae pulls Mark down the hall to room 316 as Jaebum begins to pull the door to his apartment closed. He pauses for a moment before opening it again. 

“Do you two maybe want to come over for dinner or something sometime? I just mean, since you're new here and all.” Jaebum calls down the hall, seemingly embarrassed by asking. Youngjae spins around, dragging Mark with him. The additional weight almost has the two of them toppling to the ground, but Youngjae is able to rebalance the and keep them from falling on their faces. 

“Sure! I mean, that would be great. Actually we should go out somewhere. Our treat, as an apology for breaking into your house.” Youngjae said, looking sheepish. 

“Sounds good.” Jaebum says with a small smile. Suddenly he frowns a little. “Actually, I was just wondering. How did you get inside?” 

“The door was unlocked.” Mark said, speech slurred as he wobbled toward the door of room 316. 

“Ah, okay. Well, goodnight, I guess. I’ll see you around sometime.” Jaebum smiled at them once more before pulling the door to his apartment closed and locking it with a soft click. 

The two spies ducked back into the stair well, sped quietly down the stairs and out of the building towards their waiting car. 

“Okay, well that was a royal shit show!” Mark said as soon as he was seated behind the wheel. Youngjae was buckling up beside him. 

“You can say that again. We have no idea where this ring is still and now we have to deal with Jackson Wang’s roommate.”

“Not to mention you told him we lived in the same building, that we are in university and that we would take him out for dinner all in the span of about ten minutes.”

Youngjae buried his face in his hands. “Oh my god. Jinyoung is going to kill me. What the hell was I thinking!?”

“Probably something about the very attractive, minimally clothed man brandishing a spoon at you?”

“He was very attractive.” Youngjae said with a dreamy look on his face. Mark nudged him with his elbow. Youngjae jumped a little. before groaning and putting his face in his hands. 

“God damn it. I am so screwed.”

“You wish.” Mark shot back with a smirk. Youngjae leaned over and punched him in the shoulder. Hard. 

 

Meanwhile, Jaebum stood in his kitchen, finally drinking the water he had intended on getting when he got out of bed. What he hadn’t expected was to find to boys, around his age, standing in the entryway of his apartment. It wasn’t entirely bad though. He was going to get a free dinner out of the break in. Not to mention the boy with black hair and crazy wide smile, Youngjae, if he remembered correctly, was insanely cute. Strangely, Jaebum was looking forward to meeting the boys again. They seemed fun and with Jackson spending more and more time with his girlfriend, Jaebum could really use some new friends. And hey, if he spent more time with Youngjae and discovered that his personality was just as adorable as his face? Well you certainly wouldn’t hear him complaining. 

Jaebum glanced at his front door one last time before heading back to his bed room. 

Strange, He thought, I could have sworn I heard Jackson lock the door before he left.

He shrugged, chalking it up to staying up too late too many nights in a row and made his way back to his room for some much needed sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

“You did WHAT!” Junior’s shriek echoed down the hallways of the agent’s headquarters. 

Mark and Youngjae had just finished briefing him on everything that happened over in room 317. They were seated infront of Junior’s desk in hard wooden chairs. Junior was flushed so red you could almost see the steam coming out of his ears. 

“Okay, I don’t think it’s fair to entirely blame us for this. We weren’t working with all the information. Hell, you didn’t even know that the target had a roommate.” Mark said trying his best to calm Junior down a little.

“Exactly. If anything, we chalk this up to a recon mission, add the info to the file and try again. It’s not like I blew our cover.” Youngjae says, a little sulkily. He thought he had done an excellent job coming up with a cover story in the situation he was in. 

“Youngjae, you told him your real name.”

“Hey, at least he didn’t say ‘Hello there, attractive, shirtless stranger, my name is Choi Youngjae and I’m a spy. Specifically, I’m Agent 17 and our headquarters is disguised as an office building downtown. Anyway, here’s the address.’ He didn’t blow our cover. At worst, this Jaebum guy thinks we’re a couple of university kids that drink a little too much.”

“Plus, there’s no way we’re gonna be able to break in their again with out arousing suspicion. We have to approach this diplomatically. He even agreed to come out to dinner with us and he’ll probably bring the target. It’s the perfect time to figure out what the hell is really going on here.” Youngjae says.

“Yeah. Don’t you think that Mr. Park is being super weird about this? He’s never been so secretive about who we’re working for and we’ve worked for some pretty important people.” Mark says.

“Do you think he’s ashamed or embarrassed to be helping whoever it is?” Youngjae directs the question at Junior. He stands and turns his back to the agents, looking out the window over the sprawling city. It’s the middle of the night now but the city always looks so full of life. He sighs and his shoulders crumple inward. He looks tired even from behind.

“I don’t know what’s going on anymore than you do. All I know is that it is imperative that we get this ring back. I’ve never seen my father this desperate for anything. He authorized me to do whatever it takes to complete this mission.” Junior turns back to his agents. 

“So we do whatever it takes.”

He pulls out a huge file folder filled with official looking documents. There are phone numbers and what look like bank records. Email addresses, house addresses, and postal codes not to mention full profiles on two or three dozen people. 

“I’m going to make some calls and figure some shit out. I’m going to enrol you in some classes to make your story believable and to get you closer to our target. Or targets now. This Jaebum guy is now just as much a part of this as any of us. We need to know what he knows. Youngjae, as much as this seems like a terrible idea, from what you told me, Jaebum seems to like you the best. So I’m gonna put you in the music program with him. Mark, your going into social sciences with Jackson. He’s also part of an underground rapping situation so I expect your rapping chops will come in handy there.”

Junior sits back in his chair, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “You’re dismissed. Be ready to move into room 316 in the morning.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, sorry its been so long since I've updated ://///// but i hope you enjoy. hopefully i won't be gone for that long again. <3

About a week later, once Youngjae and Mark are all settled into their new home Youngjae is in the campus coffee shop pouring over notes upon notes. He’s been in class since about 9:30 in the morning and it is currently about 7:30 and he’s finally done for the day. Now, Youngjae never does anything by half so he is currently revising everything they had gone over in class for the day

Since when did music students need to know so much about history. Youngjae thinks to himself. He had been fairly good at piano when he was younger and he had also always really enjoyed singing. He remembers all the part time jobs he had taken just so he could afford to go to his singing lessons. Of course, all that was before he had learned of his father’s debts. 

A group of mobsters had been blackmailing him into letting them use his bar as a grounds for “negotiations”. This, of course, mostly meant stand offs an shoot outs between the different families in power and they never paid for the damage they caused. Soon his family was thousands of dollars in debt with no hope of ever being able to pay it back. 

That was when Youngjae had met Jinyoung. 

In his foolish, 16 year old mind he had thought it would be a good idea to confront the head of the family that was blackmailing his father and convince him to release him from the agreement they had made as well as have him call off the people he had following Youngjae’s older brother and sister. Obviously, it didn’t go so well.

He had been captured within seconds of approaching the bar. His wrists were bound and he was dragged inside and toward the back room. 

The next thing his knows the had that are forcing him forward are gone and a new, gentler set of hands are herding him out one of the bar’s back entrances. A knife slices through whatever is binding his hands and he turns around, unsure of what to expect. 

What he gets is Jinyoung, not that he had know at the time. He had been furious. Yelling something about how Youngjae had probably ruined their entire mission. Youngjae had been very confused. Jinyoung had just taken him by the hand and made him sit behind the dumpster out back, saying he would return to get him when they were done. 

Obediently, Youngjae had sat behind that dumpster, confused and uncomfortable until he heard gunshots. Without thinking he headed back into the restaurant only to see the mobsters shooting at Jinyoung and the small group of people that seemed to be with him. He watched as Jinyoung lobbed some weird looking grenade into the crowd of mobsters. All of a sudden smoke started to fill the room. Youngjae knew he needed to get Jinyoung and his people out of there before the mobsters started shooting again. He rushed to Jinyoung’s side and took his arm. Jinyoung immediately turned his fun on Youngjae but, once he realized who it was, he seemed like he was going to start yelling. 

Youngjae immediately gestured for him to be quiet and to follow along. He took Jinyoung’s hand, getting their whole team to creep silently toward the back room. He pushed aside on of the shelves filled with liquor bottles, revealing a hidden door out into an alley behind the restaurant. Jinyoung gestures for his team to split up and he grabs Youngjae by the hand and drags him through the streets.

They run hand in hand for a while before Jinyoung deems them far enough away from the bar to be safe. 

“You saved our lives.” Jinyoung had said. “That was some pretty quick thinking.”

Youngjae had explained that his family owned the bar and they were caught in a horrible, endless cycle of debts and dilemmas.

Then Jinyoung had offered him an opportunity to save his family and he’d taken it. The agency had helped him cover everything up, saying he’d been scouted early for some prestigious university in the countryside with a full ride scholarship and his parents had agreed to let him go. And ever since then he’d been doing spy work.  
After the fiasco at the bar, the mobsters that had Youngjae’s dad locked into that horrible deal had deemed the place no longer safe for an meetings between the families. And ever since then Youngjae had been sending his parents at least half his paycheque every month in hopes that one day the will finally be free of the debts they owe.

Youngjae is startled out of his reminiscing by a ceramic coffee cup being placed on the table in front of him. He looks up to see Jaebum, fully clothed this time standing beside his table.

“Do you mind if I join you?” He asks.

“No no. Not at all.” Youngjae responds, blush creeping onto his cheeks as he tries to clear his messy notes off the table and make some room. Jaebum picks up one of the loose pages and looks it over. 

“God, i remember having to learn all this stuff last semester. It was a pain in the ass get through. I’d offer to help you out with it but, it looks like you understand a hell of a lot more of this than I ever did.” Jaebum says taking the seat across from Youngjae.

“Oh, I don’t know. I just think I’ve gotten pretty good at remembering things over the years.” Youngjae says honestly. Having to memorize all the facts about different people involved in a case had really helped his ability to recall information. 

Youngjae couldn’t help but wonder why Jaebum had decided to sit down with him. “Did you want to discuss our dinner plans?” Youngjae asks. Jaebum laughhs a little. 

“I can’t just want to talk to you?” Jaebum shoots back. Youngjae flushes immediately. Come on man. Keep your shit together. He thinks to him self.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t think you’d were into making casual conversation with someone who broke into your house. Maybe I should steer clear of you.” He says. His smile betrays any seriousness the threat may have held. 

“Are you trying to threaten me?” Jaebum says with a laugh.

“Is it working?” Youngjae is turning up the charm now, tilting his head to the side in a way that he knows make him look cute. Just like a little puppy. 

Jaebum is grinning from ear to ear. “Not even a little.” And Youngjae pouts and huffs, trying his best to keep the smile off his face. 

“I actually came over here to ask for your number.” Jaebum says. Youngjae’s eye brows jump toward his hairline in surprise. Jaebum’s face begins to flood with colour as he looks down at his hands which are clutching his untouched cup of coffee far too tightly. 

“Uh, not like that. Well, kinda. But that’s not important.” Youngjae just watches with a little smile as Jaebum fumbles with his words. It’s been a while since he’s actually enjoyed flirting with someone. Plus, a flustered Jaebum is a cute Jaebum. 

“I realized that it’s gonna be really hard to plan a dinner party if we don’t have any way to contact each other. So we should exchange numbers.” Jaebum says. 

Youngjae’s smile gets a little bigger and he says, “Are you sure you're not just using this as an excuse?” He says but he’s already pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket. Jaebum follows suit. 

“And what if I was?” Jaebum asks. 

“Then I would say that you don;t need an excuse to ask for my number.” He says. He takes Jaebum’s phone from his hands, making sure to brush his fingers against Jaebum’s. Jaebum flinches his hand back so fast that he slams his elbow into the back of his chair. He collapses forward gripping his elbow and groaning. 

“Oooooowwwww…” 

Youngjae giggles and places his phone in front of where Jaebum’s head is now resting on the table, trying to hide the rosy pink flush of embarrassment on his face. He’s not doing a particularly good job Youngjae programs his number into Jaebum’s phone and passes it back. When Jaebum makes no move to return the favour, Youngjae teases him, saying, “You better hurry up or I’m gonna take my phone back. Then I won’t know whose texting me and I might not respond.” 

Jeabum doesn’t move his head from the table but, he does grab Youngjae’s phone and program his number into it. He passes it back a cross the table without looking up. Youngjae, still smiling, picks up his phone and gathers all of his notes into his bag and slings it over his shoulder. 

“Bye bye, Jaebum!” he says cutely. “We’ll make plans for dinner soon.” And with that he prances out of the coffee shop leaving a still slightly embarrassed Jaebum in his wake. 

When he get back to his and Mark’s dorm room he realizes that he can’t remember any of the notes he had been trying to memorize. Tonight was going to be a long night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again friends. gosh this fic is getting long and probably only about half way done! D: anyway there is some talk of gun stuff in this chapter that i don't really know anything about but i did my research the best i could. I hope you like it <3 also just so you know there will probably be some violence in the chapter after this one. nothing to graphic though. anyway, thanks for sticking with me :)

So Youngjae and Jaebum begin to make dinner plans. They agree to just have the dinner at Mark and Youngjae’s apartment. Youngjae claims its because its a better environment to get to know someone but really its a quieter space to observe. Youngjae also insists that Jaebum bring his roommate. He is hoping that he and Mark will be able to steer the conversation toward the ring and, at the very least, figure out how Jackson got it. And maybe then they’ll be one step closer to understanding who they’re working for. 

The day of the dinner arrives and Youngjae can’t help but be nervous. He and Mark barely spend any real time in the apartment, both of them busy with school and then heading to headquarters to get caught up on the assignments the other agents are dealing with, and yet Youngjae finds himself spending most of the day cleaning an re-cleaning every inch of space in their home. He is very aware that his nerves should be coming from the job at hand and all of the outliers that could go wrong but he’s done this hundreds of times before. In the four years he’s been working with the agency he has never once butchered an interrogation. Generally he can collect all the information he needs without the target even knowing they are being questioned. It all about controlled release of information. Tell someone a story of how you broke your leg and they will be far more willing to reciprocate with the story of how they broke their arm. 

The problem is, Youngjae actually wants to share information with Jaebum. And he’s not even the person their supposed to be interrogating! It’s been a few days since they exchanged numbers in the coffee shop and they’ve hung out a few times since then. Usually Jaebum will approach him while he’s studying in the library and They will sit together under the pretense of working together. 

Over course, they always get distracted, talking about anything and everything. Conversation just comes so easily between the two of them and its not long before Jaebum is telling all of these crazy stories about shit he used to get up to when he was in hight school. And in return, Youngjae shares tales of his siblings and all the adventures they would take him on. How, despite being so much older than him, they never made him fell like a burden and how it gave him a sense of purpose and responsibility at a very young age. He’d never been one to be impulsive. Only when he had decided that he wanted to sing. He’d told Jaebum all of that as well, including all of the bizarre things his music teacher had made him do. One time she had made him lie on the carpeted floor of her studio with a book on his stomach, just breathing, in and out, for their full practice session. Of course, he had understood later that she was trying to teach him about controlling his breathing. At the time, though, the whole thing had been bizarre. Jaebum agreed with him and then he had made Youngjae promise that he would sing for him. Youngjae had just said “Maybe someday.” and then he had turned the conversation to Jaebum, asking about what hobbies he had when he was younger. 

So Youngjae is nervous. For actually meet Jackson, for how Mark will like Jaebum, for how Jaebum will like their apartment and for how this dinner party will go. 

Its about ten minutes to six when there is a knock on the door. Youngjae stops his frantic pacing to let their guests in. 

He is greeted with bright blonde hair, an outstretched hand and a megawatt grin that could rival Youngjae’s own smile. He takes the hand offered and shakes it gently.

“Hi! I’m Jackson, Jaebum’s roommate and BFFL. You must be Youngjae.”

“That’s me!” Youngjae says with a giggle. He wouldn’t have imagined Jaebum living with such a high energy roommate. 

“Yeah, Jaebum literally never shuts up about you. I guess I can see why. You’re pretty cute—“ Jackson is interrupted by a hand over his mouth. 

“That’s enough from him I think.” Jaebum says, hand still pressed over Jackson’s mouth as they make their way inside the apartment. Youngjae closes the door behind them and when he turns around Jaebum is recoiling his hand from Jackson’s mouth so fast with a look of absolute disgust that Youngjae can only imagine Jackson licked him. 

He turns to Youngjae and says, “Excuse me but where’s you washroom? I need to remove the first couple layers of skin on my hand.”

Youngjae laughs and directs Jaebum down the hall to their bathroom. Then he and Jackson head to the kitchen where Mark is putting the finishing touches on their meal. They introduce themselves and settle into easy conversation. Mark and Jackson share some social sciences classes (obviously, Jinyoung had planned it that way.) and the two begin chatting about some ethics assignment that was due in a few days leaving Youngjae to observe. 

The first thin he notices is that Jackson is very expressive. His face, his voice, his hands and, hold on. There is a familiar silver band entwining Jackson’s left forefinger.

“…Youngjae…” Mark calls.

Youngjae snaps back into focus. He smiles sheepishly and says, “Sorry. I was just admiring your ring, Jackson. Where did you get it?”

Mark looks at Jackson’s hand and almost imperceptible recognition dawns on his face. Jackson blushes a little and twists the ring on his finger. 

“My girlfriend got it for me as a gift for passing one of my especially difficult classes last year. She said it belonged to her father or something but he had given it to her . Apparently its supposed to mean something about power and leadership when you where it on your pointer finger. And the stone, moonstone I think she said, is supposed to promote healing and help relieve stress. If you believe in that I guess. Still, it’s the though that counts.”

“It’s a very beautiful ring.” Youngjae says

“Well, stick with Jaebum and you may end up with a ring like this sooner than you expect.” Jackson says, megawatt smile firmly back in place.

“What’s this about me and rings?” Jaebum asks from the door way, presumably finished scrubbing off a few layers of skin off his hand.

“Nothing, nothing!” Mark interjects. “Now help me bring all these dishes to the table and then we can dig in.” 

Jaebum and Jackson each load up their arms and cart the dishes toward the dining table. Mark asks Youngjae to stay in the kitchen under the pretense of putting the finishing touches on one of the dishes. 

“That was it, wasn’t it?” Mark asks in a hushed whisper.

“One hundred percent. I’ve never been so sure of something in my life.”

“And it was his girlfriend’s father’s?”

“Well, that’s what he said. I guess that narrows the people we’re working with to important people with daughters?”  
“I guess so… Still, something doesn’t quite feel right about this. Like its not just any old rich guy, you know?”

“Yeah, I feel the same. Still, we don’t really have anything else to go on. Do you want to text Jinyoung and let him know what we’ve sound?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Youngjae and Mark make their way back into the dining room where Jackson and Jaebum are just finishing setting out all the cutlery. They all take their seats, Jackson and Jaebum on one side and Mark and Youngjae facing them. 

The four boys settle into easy conversation about classes and professors and all sorts of funny anecdotes you share when you’re meeting people properly for the first time. Eventually Mark makes a comment about being painfully single, which he’s not, but Youngjae recognizes it as an attempt to get Jackson to talk about his girlfriend. 

“I think Jackson’s the only on out of the four of us that isn’t single.” Youngjae says, in an attempt to help the conversation along. Oddly, it’s actually Jaebum that takes the bait. 

“God, don’t mention it. He and Gayeon have practically been attached at the hip since they started dating. If he didn’t still pay rent I would have assumed he had moved out.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad. And anyways, its not like I’ve even met her family yet.” Jackson says, a little huffy.

“Still, I barely see you anymore. I’m glad that we met you guys,” He says gesturing to Youngjae and Mark, “Even if it was rather unconventional. I seriously needed more friends.” There isn’t any actual bite to his words as looks fondly at Jackson who is now pouting at his mostly empty dinner plate. 

All of a sudden Mark’s phone starts to ring. 

“Sorry guys, I have to get this. It’s my boss.” Mark says.

On the outside Youngjae does his best to show no change in emotion but internally, he’s freaking the fuck out. They had told Jinyoung that they were planning the dinner tonight and that he should only interrupt them if it was a real emergency. Why was he calling? what could possibly be so important that he would interrupt and interrogation?

Mark gets up from the table and stands in the doorway to answer the call, far enough away that the others could continue their conversation but close enough for Youngjae to be able to gage whats going on. 

“Hi, Jinyoung. How are you doing— 

_"Mark. Are you still at the apartment?_

 

Youngjae can here Jinyoung’s voice through crackling through the receiver. He must be on speaker on his end. which means he’s probably driving.

“Of course, where else would I be? In the library, actually studying or something?”

_“Seriously, cut the shit. We don’t have time for this. I don’t know how but our clients got access to the case files. they know Mr. Wang has the ring, they know we set you to retrieve it, they know where you’re living and they’re on their way. You need to get Mr. Wang and Mr. Im somewhere safe before they arrive.”_

“Okay, okay, so fuck our covers then? Jinyoung who exactly are we dealing with.” Mark says, concern lacing his voice. Jaebum and Jackson just look confused. 

_“Mr. Song.”_

Oh hell no. That was the bastard that had spent years blackmailing and extorting Youngjae’s father. Sending his goons after Youngjae’s siblings. Hunting and stalking them for years with out their knowledge. He also happened to run the deadliest and most powerful gang in the city. He also happened to have a daughter who also just happened to be named Gayeon.

“Oh shit.”

_“Yeah, oh shit, now get them the hell out of there!”_

Suddenly, their were voices down the hall moving quickly toward their apartment. 

“Too late.” Mark says quietly into the receiver. There is a pounding on the door, nothing like Jackson’s loud but polite knock barely an hour ago. Youngjae gets up walks to his room and digs out a mid sized at box buried in the back of his closet. 

Inside are two sleek 9mm, one pure black and the other fitted with a silver bullet chamber, a few extra clips, and two boxes of bullets. He scoops up both guns and returns to the dining room. He passes Mark the silver pistol and checks the safety on his own. 

“I’m sorry but are those guns?” A very concerned voice finally speaks up from the table. It’s Jackson. Jaebum still seems to be thinking about something.

“Yes, they are. Now I’m going to need you two to do exactly what I tell you. there will be time for us to answer your questions later but right now I need you to focus, okay?” Youngjae says, gun gripped in both hands, pointing down towards the floor. 

“Can you at least tell us what the hell is going on?”

“Well, Jackson. I think we’re about to meet your girlfriend’s family.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again friends. gosh this fic is getting long and probably only about half way done! D: anyway there is some talk of gun stuff in this chapter that i don't really know anything about but i did my research the best i could. I hope you like it <3 also just so you know there will probably be some violence in the chapter after this one. nothing to graphic though. anyway, thanks for sticking with me :)

So Youngjae and Jaebum begin to make dinner plans. They agree to just have the dinner at Mark and Youngjae’s apartment. Youngjae claims its because its a better environment to get to know someone but really its a quieter space to observe. Youngjae also insists that Jaebum bring his roommate. He is hoping that he and Mark will be able to steer the conversation toward the ring and, at the very least, figure out how Jackson got it. And maybe then they’ll be one step closer to understanding who they’re working for. 

The day of the dinner arrives and Youngjae can’t help but be nervous. He and Mark barely spend any real time in the apartment, both of them busy with school and then heading to headquarters to get caught up on the assignments the other agents are dealing with, and yet Youngjae finds himself spending most of the day cleaning an re-cleaning every inch of space in their home. He is very aware that his nerves should be coming from the job at hand and all of the outliers that could go wrong but he’s done this hundreds of times before. In the four years he’s been working with the agency he has never once butchered an interrogation. Generally he can collect all the information he needs without the target even knowing they are being questioned. It all about controlled release of information. Tell someone a story of how you broke your leg and they will be far more willing to reciprocate with the story of how they broke their arm. 

The problem is, Youngjae actually wants to share information with Jaebum. And he’s not even the person their supposed to be interrogating! It’s been a few days since they exchanged numbers in the coffee shop and they’ve hung out a few times since then. Usually Jaebum will approach him while he’s studying in the library and They will sit together under the pretense of working together. 

Over course, they always get distracted, talking about anything and everything. Conversation just comes so easily between the two of them and its not long before Jaebum is telling all of these crazy stories about shit he used to get up to when he was in hight school. And in return, Youngjae shares tales of his siblings and all the adventures they would take him on. How, despite being so much older than him, they never made him fell like a burden and how it gave him a sense of purpose and responsibility at a very young age. He’d never been one to be impulsive. Only when he had decided that he wanted to sing. He’d told Jaebum all of that as well, including all of the bizarre things his music teacher had made him do. One time she had made him lie on the carpeted floor of her studio with a book on his stomach, just breathing, in and out, for their full practice session. Of course, he had understood later that she was trying to teach him about controlling his breathing. At the time, though, the whole thing had been bizarre. Jaebum agreed with him and then he had made Youngjae promise that he would sing for him. Youngjae had just said “Maybe someday.” and then he had turned the conversation to Jaebum, asking about what hobbies he had when he was younger. 

So Youngjae is nervous. For actually meet Jackson, for how Mark will like Jaebum, for how Jaebum will like their apartment and for how this dinner party will go. 

Its about ten minutes to six when there is a knock on the door. Youngjae stops his frantic pacing to let their guests in. 

He is greeted with bright blonde hair, an outstretched hand and a megawatt grin that could rival Youngjae’s own smile. He takes the hand offered and shakes it gently.

“Hi! I’m Jackson, Jaebum’s roommate and BFFL. You must be Youngjae.”

“That’s me!” Youngjae says with a giggle. He wouldn’t have imagined Jaebum living with such a high energy roommate. 

“Yeah, Jaebum literally never shuts up about you. I guess I can see why. You’re pretty cute—“ Jackson is interrupted by a hand over his mouth. 

“That’s enough from him I think.” Jaebum says, hand still pressed over Jackson’s mouth as they make their way inside the apartment. Youngjae closes the door behind them and when he turns around Jaebum is recoiling his hand from Jackson’s mouth so fast with a look of absolute disgust that Youngjae can only imagine Jackson licked him. 

He turns to Youngjae and says, “Excuse me but where’s you washroom? I need to remove the first couple layers of skin on my hand.”

Youngjae laughs and directs Jaebum down the hall to their bathroom. Then he and Jackson head to the kitchen where Mark is putting the finishing touches on their meal. They introduce themselves and settle into easy conversation. Mark and Jackson share some social sciences classes (obviously, Jinyoung had planned it that way.) and the two begin chatting about some ethics assignment that was due in a few days leaving Youngjae to observe. 

The first thin he notices is that Jackson is very expressive. His face, his voice, his hands and, hold on. There is a familiar silver band entwining Jackson’s left forefinger.

“…Youngjae…” Mark calls.

Youngjae snaps back into focus. He smiles sheepishly and says, “Sorry. I was just admiring your ring, Jackson. Where did you get it?”

Mark looks at Jackson’s hand and almost imperceptible recognition dawns on his face. Jackson blushes a little and twists the ring on his finger. 

“My girlfriend got it for me as a gift for passing one of my especially difficult classes last year. She said it belonged to her father or something but he had given it to her . Apparently its supposed to mean something about power and leadership when you where it on your pointer finger. And the stone, moonstone I think she said, is supposed to promote healing and help relieve stress. If you believe in that I guess. Still, it’s the though that counts.”

“It’s a very beautiful ring.” Youngjae says

“Well, stick with Jaebum and you may end up with a ring like this sooner than you expect.” Jackson says, megawatt smile firmly back in place.

“What’s this about me and rings?” Jaebum asks from the door way, presumably finished scrubbing off a few layers of skin off his hand.

“Nothing, nothing!” Mark interjects. “Now help me bring all these dishes to the table and then we can dig in.” 

Jaebum and Jackson each load up their arms and cart the dishes toward the dining table. Mark asks Youngjae to stay in the kitchen under the pretense of putting the finishing touches on one of the dishes. 

“That was it, wasn’t it?” Mark asks in a hushed whisper.

“One hundred percent. I’ve never been so sure of something in my life.”

“And it was his girlfriend’s father’s?”

“Well, that’s what he said. I guess that narrows the people we’re working with to important people with daughters?”  
“I guess so… Still, something doesn’t quite feel right about this. Like its not just any old rich guy, you know?”

“Yeah, I feel the same. Still, we don’t really have anything else to go on. Do you want to text Jinyoung and let him know what we’ve sound?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Youngjae and Mark make their way back into the dining room where Jackson and Jaebum are just finishing setting out all the cutlery. They all take their seats, Jackson and Jaebum on one side and Mark and Youngjae facing them. 

The four boys settle into easy conversation about classes and professors and all sorts of funny anecdotes you share when you’re meeting people properly for the first time. Eventually Mark makes a comment about being painfully single, which he’s not, but Youngjae recognizes it as an attempt to get Jackson to talk about his girlfriend. 

“I think Jackson’s the only on out of the four of us that isn’t single.” Youngjae says, in an attempt to help the conversation along. Oddly, it’s actually Jaebum that takes the bait. 

“God, don’t mention it. He and Gayeon have practically been attached at the hip since they started dating. If he didn’t still pay rent I would have assumed he had moved out.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad. And anyways, its not like I’ve even met her family yet.” Jackson says, a little huffy.

“Still, I barely see you anymore. I’m glad that we met you guys,” He says gesturing to Youngjae and Mark, “Even if it was rather unconventional. I seriously needed more friends.” There isn’t any actual bite to his words as looks fondly at Jackson who is now pouting at his mostly empty dinner plate. 

All of a sudden Mark’s phone starts to ring. 

“Sorry guys, I have to get this. It’s my boss.” Mark says.

On the outside Youngjae does his best to show no change in emotion but internally, he’s freaking the fuck out. They had told Jinyoung that they were planning the dinner tonight and that he should only interrupt them if it was a real emergency. Why was he calling? what could possibly be so important that he would interrupt and interrogation?

Mark gets up from the table and stands in the doorway to answer the call, far enough away that the others could continue their conversation but close enough for Youngjae to be able to gage whats going on. 

“Hi, Jinyoung. How are you doing— 

Mark. Are you still at the apartment?

 

Youngjae can here Jinyoung’s voice through echoing through the receiver. He must be on speaker on his end. which means he’s probably driving.

“Of course, where else would I be?”

“Seriously, cut the shit. We don’t have time for this. I don’t know how but our clients got access to the case files. they know Mr. Wang has the ring, they know we set you to retrieve it, they know where you’re living and they’re on their way. You need to get Mr. Wang and Mr. Im somewhere safe before they arrive.”

“Okay, okay, so fuck our covers then? Jinyoung who exactly are we dealing with.” Mark says, concern lacing his voice. Jaebum and Jackson just look confused. “Just who exactly are we dealing with?”

“Mr. Song.”

Oh hell no. That was the bastard that had spent years blackmailing and extorting Youngjae’s father. Sending his goons after Youngjae’s siblings. Hunting and stalking them for years with out their knowledge. He also happened to run the deadliest and most powerful gang in the city. He also happened to have a daughter who also just happened to be named Gayeon.

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah, oh shit, now get them the hell out of there!”

Suddenly, their were voices down the hall moving quickly toward their apartment. 

“Too late.” Mark says quietly into the receiver. There is a pounding on the door, nothing like Jackson’s loud but polite knock barely an hour ago. Youngjae gets up walks to his room and digs out a mid sized at box buried in the back of his closet. 

Inside are two sleek 9mm, one pure black and the other fitted with a silver bullet chamber, a few extra clips, and two boxes of bullets. He scoops up both guns and returns to the dining room. He passes Mark the silver pistol and checks the safety on his own. 

“I’m sorry but are those guns?” A very concerned voice finally speaks up from the table. It’s Jackson. Jaebum still seems to be thinking about something.

“Yes, they are. Now I’m going to need you two to do exactly what I tell you. there will be time for us to answer your questions later but right now I need you to focus, okay?” Youngjae says, gun gripped in both hands, pointing down towards the floor. 

“Can you at least tell us what the hell is going on?”

“Well, Jackson. I think we’re about to meet your girlfriend’s family.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY!!!! I seriously did not mean to abandon this for so long... I'm back now though idk if this chapter will make up for like a month hiatus but I promise it won't be that long ever again. <3 Y'all are great and I hope you enjoy this!

“Get that door open now!” Someone outside shouts. They are clearly unconcerned with what the neighbours will think. Two loud bangs and two bullet holes through the lock on the door and chaos ensues. 

There are about five men in the group, all of them tall and broad, all of them carrying pistols. One of the thugs swings at the first person he sees which happens to be Jaebum. Youngjae shoves Jaebum behind him and takes the brunt of the blow before blocking the next punch. Then he’s slammed back against the wall and he hears something crack in his chest. He dodges the next punch and the thugs hand dents the wall beside his head. He grabs him by the wrist, flips there positions and lands a few punches of his own. His gun slipped out of his hands after the first punch. It’s okay though, he’s never been the best with a gun anyways. He’s always too afraid of accidentally killing people. He feels blood trickling down his cheek from the gash the first blow had made in his face. The thug must be wearing rings. 

He’s got a hand around Youngjae’s neck now and he feels himself toppling backwards, wincing when his back meets the ground. His vision starts to darken around the edges and he filings his hand out, fingers stretched, reaching for anything he can use to get this guy off him. His fingers brush against something cold and metal. A gun. His gun! His fingers wrap around it and he slams the barrel into the side of the thugs head. He breaks the skin and deep crimson blood seeps from the gash. It unbalances the thug enough that he can flip the man over and get an arm around his thick neck, squeezing his airway. The thug is thrashing around like a fish out of water but Youngjae’s got a good grip on him now. Slowly his struggling gets less and less powerful and final he goes limp against Youngjae, who shoves him off before struggling to his feet. 

Somewhere behind him he hears a knife being drawn and he whips around. Jaebum is facing off with another thug. There is blood smeared on the side of his face from a small cut just above his eyebrow, there is blood at the corner of his mouth and marks on his cheek that will most certainly be a bruise by tomorrow. The thug doesn’t look too great either so Jaebum must have landed some punches of his own. Then Youngjae notices that it’s the thug whose holding the knife. It’s a piece of work. Probably around nine inches, serrated on one side and barbed on the other. Its a knife thats meant to do damage. 

Youngjae’s vision narrows and all he can see is the thug advancing towards Jaebum with that knife and all of a sudden he’s moving. He grabs the man’s arm and turns him around before slamming his fist into his face. Then he’s pushing backwards, knee to the stomach and another fist to the face. He’s attacking with such ferocity that the thug doesn’t even have a chance to think about fighting back. 

Then they are against a wall and Youngjae’s got the mans wrist in his hand and he’s slamming his arm into the wall over and over again until the thug finally drops his knife. Youngjae kicks it away toward Jaebum who picks it up and then passes it to Youngjae. 

Youngjae holds the knife to the thugs throat, turning so the man is walking in front of him and Jaebum is walking behind. He pushes forward until he reaches the kitchen. He’s prepared for the worst. 

Instead he’s met with the sight of Jackson, slightly battered, brandishing what looks to be a soup pot over his head. Two of the thugs are lying, unconscious, at his feet. Mark has his gun trained on the third who is standing near their oven, hands raised in surrender. 

“Are you done?” Mark asks the thug by the oven.

“Seriously, what the hell man?” Youngjae chimes in. “We were getting the job done. Why are you even here?”

“Mr. Song wanted to take things into his own hands. You guys were taking too long so—“

“So he decided to come over here and murder his daughters boyfriend for a ring she stole?” Mark asks incredulously. The thug looks like he’s trying to form some kind of explanation, but at this point he knows he’s been beaten. His shoulders sag as the fight rushes out of him.

“Just grab your boys and go. Mr. Song will get his ring back once we’ve done all the processing on it and it’s been logged properly into our data banks.” Youngjae says letting the hand holding the knife drop from the thugs neck he pushes him into the centre of the room. “And some one should seriously tell Mr. Song that patience is a virtue.” He snarks as he walks back into the living room to retrieve his gun and the unconscious thug from the dining room. 

He’s just leaning down to check the thug’s pulse when he hears a thundering bang from the kitchen. He’s at the kitchen door in a second gun raised finger poised near the trigger. 

The thug he had held hostage was kneeling on the floor, blood soaking his pant leg just above his knee. Theres another knife on the ground near his hand almost matching the first one. Mark’s gun is trained on the man, hands steady, eyes sharp. 

“Dude, seriously?” Youngjae says lowering his gun and walking over to kick the knife out of reach. Then all of a sudden the Tetris theme song is ringing out through the apartment.

“Uh oh, daddy’s calling.” Mark says with a smirk, gun still held steady. 

The thug by the oven pulls a phone out of his pocket and answers the call. He doesn’t say anything but his face betrays his shame. They aren’t trained like the agents. The don’t know how to keep a neutral mask. It must be some next level scolding because it goes on non stop for a full two minutes.

Youngjae sighs and steps forward pulling the phone from the thugs hands. “Look, they did a good job, really. Almost gave us a run for our money. But I’m tired now and I think one of my ribs is broken so please stop yelling so I can kick your thugs out of our house.” There is silence on the other end of the line. 

“Thank you.” Youngjae says and then he ends the call tossing the phone back to the thug by the oven. 

“You heard what he said. We’re tired and we've got to clean up this mess you made so, seriously, get the hell out.” Mark says. 

There’s a bit of awkward shuffling and dragging but eventually their apartment is thug free. 

Mark goes to the bathroom to retrieve their extensive first aid kit and then he goes to the kitchen to patch up jackson and himself. Youngjae goes to Jaebum intent on inspecting his wounds. As he approaches, Jaebum backs away from him. Youngjae stills and stares at Jaebum confused, head cocked to the side. 

 

“Are you afraid of me?” He asks quietly. He extends his hand toward Jaebum who flinches away. 

Youngjae drops his hand back down to his side. He swallows back the panic that’s threatening to crawl out his throat. He’s more afraid now than he has ever been during a mission. The thought of Jaebum thinking that he’s a danger hurts him beyond anything he’s ever felt before. 

“I’m not afraid of you.” Jaebum answers finally. Youngjae feels relief wash over him. It doesn’t last for long.

“I just don’t trust you.”

Youngjae feels his heart plummet into his stomach and his chest compress until he feels like he can’t breath. He’s certain that its not just the broken rib. He drops his head, eyes focused on the floor. He’s never really noticed how ugly the carpet is in these apartments. He feels his face heat up and his eyes start to itch with unshed tears. 

“I have to go.” Jaebum says and he’s brushing past Youngjae, shoulders bumping. 

He pauses at the door before turning back around to look at Youngjae. 

“Who are you, Choi Youngjae?”

Youngjae offers him a watery smirk. “That’a classified.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow I'm really bad at this updating frequently thing. I'm sorry again but school is hard. Im gonna try to update at least once a week until this fic is done. Thank you for your patience <3

A month goes by and Jaebum doesn’t here anything from his neighbours. The apartment beside his is empty the day after the attack, almost as if nobody had ever lived there. But Jaebum knows. He knows because of the cuts and bruises on his face but even when those eventually fade into ghostly scars he knows that someone lived there because he remembers Youngjae. And as angry as he wants to be, he can’t help but feel that something is missing. Don’t be confused. He is angry for a while but just like his bruises it fades away and all he’s left with is an incomplete story. 

He can’t stop himself from wondering how much of the stuff Youngjae told him was true. And how much of it actually matters? Maybe he hadn’t really lied at all. Maybe it was a simple case of omitting the truth. But that was still a lie in some way or another. Jaebum truly doesn’t know how to feel. He’s confused and he misses Youngjae’s smile. 

Mark and Youngjae drop out of school as well and every time he walks into the class he used to share with Youngjae his heart stutters in anticipation. In the hope that the fight that night had just been some insane fever dream and that everything was back to normal. It never was but it hasn’t stopped Jaebum from hoping. 

Jackson is missing them too. Or maybe he’s still in shock about what happened that night. Him and his girlfriend are on a break, due to the fact that she didn’t tell Jackson that her father was a mob boss and also the fact she nearly got both of them killed. He spends more time in the dorm, more time locked in his room. He only really leaves to go to class and to eat. Jaebum hadn’t really realized the impact the two spies had on their lives until they were gone. 

He thinks about Youngjae, about what he’d say if he ever saw him again. He likes to imagine that they’d be able to talk through everything that happened and he’d ask Youngjae once more, “who are you?” and Youngjae would tell him the truth. 

Jaebum sighs. He supposes that there is no reason to be so concerned with what could have been or even what might have been. He tries to get back to focusing on his work. He can’t and eventually he just gives up, opting to lie on his back on his bed staring up at the ceiling and thinking about nothing. That’s been happening more and more. He never used to be like this. A man of the present, his grandmother had called him. But know he finds himself drifting off and imagining what could have been. 

All of a sudden there is a loud banging on the front door. It startles Jaebum out of his thoughts. As far as he knows Jackson is still in class an they aren’t expecting company. He goes to the door and opens it just a crack to peer outside. He is impossibly shocked by what he sees. 

After weeks and weeks apart there’s Mark, pretty badly scuffed up, followed by two people Jaebum has never seen, standing on his doorstep. They’re carrying a limp body between them, its face and clothes covered in blood. There is blood on Mark’s hand and in the tips of his hair too. If Jaebum had to guess, he would say that it probably isn’t mark’s blood. 

“I’m so sorry, Jaebum. We didn’t know where else to take him.” Mark grinds out, and maybe he’s more injured than Jaebum originally thought because there’s blood on his teeth and when he talks it spills out the corners of his lips. 

Jaebum is in so much shock that he just steps aside to let Mark, the two new people and the body pass into the apartment. It’s only as they pass by him does Jaebum realize that the body they are carrying is Youngjae.

There’s so much blood and it’s caked in his hair and on his skin he’s almost unrecognizable. It stains his sweatshirt and his jeans and even the skin of his delicate fingers. Jaebum still stands, completely frozen, by the front door. One of the new people hands Youngjae’s legs to Mark and spreads a tarp out on the couch to protect it from all the blood.

“What the hell happened?” Jaebum asks, taking Youngjae’s legs from Mark and helping the boy holding his arms ease the limp body down onto the couch. 

“Huge over turn at the agency.” says a new voice form the front doorway. It comes from a smallish, severe looking man that's probably around Jaebum’s age. He’s wearing a button down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and slacks on. He also has a pistol holster tied around his hips, complete with sleek, black nine millimetre. He also has a radio clipped onto his belt. His hands are also covered in blood.

“I meant, what happened to Youngjae.” Jaebum barks back. He doesn’t so much care what kind of shit is going down at their stupid spy agency. He just want’s to know who did this.

“A group of rogue agents organized a hostile take over after my father resigned. Youngjae got hit in the fight.”

“He got shot?!” Jaebum shouts incredulously. He knows he’s probably disturbing the neighbours but he doesn’t give a damn. 

“Yeah. Took a bullet for me.” Mark rasps out, spitting blood on to the tarp. He looks like he’s on the verge of tears, his bloody hands clutching Youngjae’s, which are unresponsive and ghostly pale.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Jaebum asks. 

“That remains to be determined.” One of the new people says.

“If we were at our lab and actually had and x-ray we could see how deep the bullet went.” The other one finishes.

“A lab! He should be in the damn hospital! What on earth were you thinking bringing him here?”

The man at the from door crosses the room to crouch beside Mark in front of the couch, wrapping an arm around his shoulders before looking up at Jaebum who is still completely stunned by the whole situation. 

“I’m sorry for barging in on you like this but hospitals aren’t safe for us right now. We make sure our agents are well trained in undercover work so it would be no small wonder if the hostiles had stationed groups at the hospitals to finish off any agents they were unable to dispatch along the way.” He says it all so matter of factly that Jaebum has no doubt he’s the boss here. 

“I’m Jinyoung and those two,” He says pointing to the two boys who carried Youngjae’s body inside, “Are Yugyeom and Kunpimook, but we all just call him Bambam. They’re responsible for patching up our field agents when things go south. And you already know Mark, obviously.” 

Jaebum just nods. The reality of this whole situation is finally sinking in. Choi Youngjae, someone he hasn’t seen in weeks, some who he was very fond of was lying unconscious on his couch, bloody, bruised and broken. There was a chance that Youngjae wouldn’t survive this. There was a chance that he’d never get to see Youngjae smile again. 

“Oh God.” It comes out like a whisper or a prayer and Jaebum nearly collapses on the spot. He uses the arm of the couch to keep himself upright until the strength returns to his legs. 

“It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna do everything we can to make sure Youngjae gets through this. He is our number one priority right now.” Jinyoung says and the to boys introduced as Yugyeom and Bambam begin to pull scalpels and tiny tongs out of their massive first aid kit. 

“You shouldn’t be here for this.” Yugyeom says to him. 

“I’m not leaving.”

“Suit yourself.” Yugyeom says with a shrug before shoving his tongs deep into the bullet hole in Youngjae’s side. Jaebum nearly passes out for a second time. 

“Don’t worry, Jaebum. We’ll keep you updated on his progress. You aren’t from this world and you don’t have to be witness to the darker side of things.” Mark says. He goes to rest his hand on Jaebum’s arm and then seems to remember that he’s still covered in blood so his hand just sort of pats the air before it falls back to his side.

“Okay.” He finally agrees watching the two boys, who look to still be in their teens, working intently to remove the bullet from Youngjae’s side. There’s so much blood but Jaebum knows that if he hovers around he’ll just be in the way so he goes to the dining room and collapses in a chair before resting his head on the table. Now he just has to wait.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are rapidly nearing the end my children! only one or two more chapters left!! I hope you enjoy this one and that you stick around till the end :)

Jaebum sits like that, head buried in his arms, slouched over the kitchen table, for what feels like hours. In truth, its probably not even twenty minutes. He tries desperately to keep his breath calm and controlled but he’s allowed to be freaking the hell out right now. There is a person in his living room having a bullet removed from their body. At literally any point he could have a dead body in his house. So, yeah. He’s allowed to freak out a little. 

“Hey, Jaebum. How are you doing?” 

He recognizes Mark’s voice. It’s sweet that he came to check on him when his partner is dying in the other room. Jaebum’s head shoots up.

“Is he—? Well, I mean… Can I—?” Jaebum stutters out  
“He’s stable and they got the bullets out. Yugyeom and Bambam are just patching him up now but, he’s still unconscious. Its looking like he’s gonna be okay.”

Jaebum heaves a sigh of relief and it feels like tension was the only thing holding his bones together. Now that it’s gone all he wants to do is collapse against the table. Then he notices Mark. Really notices him. It looks like his body is trying its hardest to decide whether it should collapse or start crying and at this point it may just do both.

Jaebum pushes down his own emotions and walks to Mark, taking him by the wrist and leading him to sit at the table. 

“It’s been a long day. I’ll make us some tea.” He says with a soft smile. 

With the tea made and served, Jaebum sits down beside Mark. He doesn’t want to push the spy to talk but he can tell that there’s something he wants to say. So he just waits and sips his tea, watching as Mark contemplates his words. Though Jaebum hasn’t know Mark for very long he has discerned that the spy is careful with his words. He never slips up and never says the wrong thing because, if he thinks that he might, he just doesn’t say anything. 

So he waits.

The ticking of the clock on the wall is heavy in the silence of the apartment. Jaebum sees Mark begin to time his breathes to the ticks. Three ticks in. Three ticks out. Calm and steady. Mark closes his eyes and loses himself in the silence. When he does speak, its barely more than a whisper, cautious of breaking the calm. Like if he speaks too loud chaos will erupt and everything will go to shit.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened. It’s not the first time I’ve seen someone get shot. Hell, its not even the first time I’ve seen Youngjae get shot.” Mark whispers.

“He’s been shot before?” Jaebum says, at the same volume but with increased urgency.

“Yeah. The first time we ever met. You know, he’s the reason why I’m even here today. I wasn’t always apart of the agency. I used to be freelance.”

“Are you even allowed to tell me this kinda shit?” Jaebum asks thinking back to the night of the fight and the conversation with Youngjae that followed. 

“I mean, no. Technically not. But you already know a bunch of shit you aren’t supposed to. At this point keeping secrets feels kinda redundant? Like, at this point you might actually be safer if you know the whole story. Back during the night of the fight I think Youngjae was still trying to protect you. You and Jackson. By giving you as little information as he could about who we were and who we were fighting he was trying to make it so that even if you did get kidnapped at any point, your captors would deem you useless and they’d let you go. Ideally, we wouldn’t have compromised you guys at all but that shit kinda flew out the window when you caught us breaking into your house.”

“So you really were trying to break in?” Jaebum asks, a little incredulous. Mark laughs but it’s hollow and tinny and it doesn’t sound quite right.

You didn’t seriously believe the story we fed you, did you? Wow, you’re more gullible than I thought.”

“What can I say. I was charmed.” Jaebum says, eyes darting toward the door that leads to the living room.

“Yeah, he has that kind of effect on people. It’s his specialty, the whole innocent thing. I can’t count the amount of times its gotten us out of a bind.”

Jaebum can feel his heart plummet in his chest. He tries his best to keep it from showing on his face. Clearly he does a bad job.

“It’s different with you though. I swear I’ve never seen Youngjae get so flustered in all the years we’ve been working together. I’ve seen him fake it so many times and what I saw that night wasn’t fake. Plus you should have seen him on the drive home. He was so spellbound. He wouldn’t stop blushing whenever your name was mentioned. I know he likes you a lot. And I know that you might still be angry but, please understand that he was only doing what he thought was best. He was only trying to protect you.” Mark implores

“I’m not…” Jaebum heaves a world weary sigh. “I’m not mad. Not anymore. I’ve just been so confused. These past weeks have been hell. Not being able to talk to him or hear him laugh. But then I realize that everything he told me was probably a lie, a cover, whatever. I realize that I never really knew him at all.” 

“I don’t think so. I think everything he told you was true to some extent. He’s always been a master of half truths. It is a spy’s way. He probably never outright lied to you. Of course, I can’t know that for sure. You’ll have to ask him when he wakes up.” 

Jaebum sighs again and slouches back in his chair. 

“How’d you two meet anyway?” He asks, wanting to turn the conversation away from his relationship with Youngjae.

“Freelance job gone bad. We were both sent to recover some information for two different sides of an intense legal battle. Youngjae was already working for the agency but I was hired by the other side. I got the info first and I delivered it to the guys who hired me. Then they tried to take me out so they wouldn't have to pay me. Youngjae came down to try and get the information back. Basically, we both ended up cornered, hiding behind an overturned office desk.” Mark was smiling a little thinking about the memory. It didn’t seem to Jaebum like it was something to smile about.

“Youngjae looked at me, smiled and said, “You would make a great spy. Once we get out of this you should get in touch with the agency. The pays good and you don’t get shot at by your boss nearly as often.” Then he told me to be ready to run when he counted to three. He waited till the rain of bullets stopped and the people shooting at us decided to come check to see if we were still alive. Then he pushed the table outward, bowling them all over and we sprinted out of there like bats out of hell.” Mark chuckled and Jaebum couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

“Didn’t make it out completely unscathed though. Youngjae took a bullet to the shoulder while shoving me out of the way. That night, he saved my life in more ways than one and I have never been able to repay him. Every time I mention it he brushes it off by saying that with the amount of cases we’ve done, I’ve pad him back tenfold.” Mark shakes his head. Jaebum looks back toward the door to the living room. He can’t wait for Youngjae to wake up. He has gained a new respect for the boy’s selflessness and Mark has offered him new clarity in regards to the actions of the little spy. Now all he wants is to see Youngjae laughing again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alrighty! so this is the end! I'm really happy so many of you guys decided to stick with this fic even though it took me so damn long to write. I hope that you enjoy this and that you'll check out some of the stuff i have planned for the future. Thank you all so much <3
> 
> EDIT: THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A CHAPTER MISSING EARLIER IN THE FIC. I DO NOT KNOW HOW I IN"T REALIZE THIS BUT ITS FIXED NOW. IM PRETTY SURE ITS CHAPTER 7 SO YOU MIGHT WANN GO READ THAT ALSO

Mark and Jaebum sit in silence until Jinyoung strides in from the living room. Mark and Jaebum both stand and turn to him.

“Bambam and Yugyeom say Youngjae is stable and should make a full recovery, barring any major complications. Knowing that, we need to be on the move. Every moment we stay here allows them to better establish there control of the agency. With my father out of the picture, its time for me to step up and take control.” He says, determination evident on his face.

“Well, we can’t very well bring Youngjae with us. He’s unconscious and even if he wakes up soon he’s just slow us down.” Mark says, brow furrowed in concern.

“I know. He’ll stay here until he wakes up. Then once we have control over the agency again, we’ll reconvene.” Jinyoung says.

“You sound pretty confident that you’ll come out on top.” Jaebum snarks, much more relaxed now that he knows Youngjae is gonna be okay. Jinyoung looks at him eyebrow raised.

“I let them win the first time. It won’t happen again.” The determination is evident in his voice and the way he holds himself, fists clenched by his side. 

Jinyoung breezes out of the room, back to collect Bambam and Yugyeom who are just finishing packing up there supplies. Mark and Jaebum follow after him. Youngjae is still lying on the couch looking badly battered but considerably less bloody. The rising of his chest is strong and steady and his blood stained shirt is shoved about halfway up his chest, the bullet wound covered by a thick patch of gauze thats already stained red with fresh blood. JAebum stands by the edge of the couch looking down on the spy. He can’t help but be viciously reminded of how young Youngjae is. He should be out partying with college friends and working a shitty minimum wage job to pay for groceries not patched up in and almost strangers living room recovering from a bullet wound. 

Mark comes up beside him and presses a radio into his hand. 

“If anything happens. It’s already tuned to the channel we use. Just use it like a walkie talkie.” And Mark smiles before crouching down beside the couch. He brushes the hair out of Youngjae’s eyes with delicate fingers before gently smoothing the pad of his thumb across one of the cuts near his eye.

“Wake up soon, kiddo. But you’re in safe hands until you do.” He whispers. Then he takes Youngjae’s cold, still hand in his own.

“I don’t know where I’d be if it weren’t for you. Thank you.” Jaebum barely hears the last part. Then Mark stands and turns slapping Jaebum on the shoulder. 

“Keep him safe until he wakes up.” And then he, Jinyoung, Yugyeom and Bambam are sweeping their way out of the apartment closing the door behind the. The quiet ticking of the clock in the kitchen and Youngjae’s steady breathing are the only things that break the silence except for the pounding in Jaebum’s own head.

He goes to the hall closet and pulls out a blanket that he then takes to the living room and drapes across Youngjae’s sleeping form. 

Just as he’s about to sit down in the chair across from he couch, Youngjae’s eyes begin to flutter open. Jaebum is at his side in a flash, kneeling down beside the couch. Youngjae groans as his eyes open about halfway darting around like their trying to find something to focus on. As he comes closer and closer to consciousness his eyes focus right on Jaebum and his lips twitch into a tiny smile. Jaebum grabs his hand and asks, 

“How do you feel?”

“Like I just got shot.” Youngjae snarks back the smile on his lips growing and his eyes still half lidded. Jaebum huffs a laugh out through his nose. 

“Do you need anything? I can make you some tea? Or maybe water would be better—“

“Jaebum.” Youngjae interrupts. “I’m okay. I guess I just wanted to apologize…” 

“No. You don’t have to. I was being irrational. Your life is your life and you don’t have to tell me any part of it. You don’t owe me anything.” Jaebum says, quiet yet still forceful. 

“But that’s just it. I wanted to tell you about it. About me. And it wasn’t about me owing you anything. I like spending time with you. It made it so hard to keep everything a secret from you.” Youngjae makes an attempt to sit up and winces in pain. Jaebum grabs him gently by the shoulders and pushes him down so Youngjae is lying flat on the sofa again.

“Stop this. You need to rest.” Jaebum says firmly, tucking the blanket around Youngjae’s thin frame. 

“No!” Youngjae exclaims, looking increasingly like a little caterpillar, with the thick blanket tucked all the way up to his chin. Jaebum almost forgets that he’s not just a regular everyday college student with a bit of a stomach ache.

“No?” Jaebum responds, eyebrows raised.

“I just want all of this cleared up now. The more we sit around, waiting for the perfect moment the more time we lose.” Youngjae says, looking a little frantic from his cocoon.

“Are we running out of time?” Jaebum asks.

“Look, I may be a little delirious right now but getting shot really makes you realize your own mortality. I don’t want to waste anymore time beating around the bush, floating around this middle ground, not knowing where we stand with each other.” The words spill out of youngjae’s mouth in a rush.

“I like you. A whole lot. And maybe it’s a little irrational but being around you makes me happy and I don’t want to lose that just because I didn’t take my chance to say something.” Youngjae is looking up into Jaebum’s eyes pleadingly. A few moments of silence pass and Youngjae’s eyes dart around Jaebum’s face, looking for any kind of reaction.

“Say something. Please?” Its barely more than a whisper but Jaebum is crouching on the floor by the couch and he’s taking Youngjae’s face in his hands and he’s searching Youngjae’s face for any sign that he doesn’t want this. When he finds nothing but adoration and hopefulness he presses their lips together.

The kiss is careful and soft at first, Jaebum doesn’t want to aggravate Youngjae’s wound. The Youngjae untucks his own hands from his blanket burrito and buries his fingers in the short hair at the nape of Jaebum’s neck, pulling him closer and sealing their lips together. Jaebum pushes farther forward so that he’s leaning more over the couch. This way Youngjae can rest more on his back and he doesn’t have to strain himself as much. Youngjae is the first one to poke his tongue out to lick at the seam of Jaebum’s lips but Jaebum is quick to respond. He opens his mouth to allow Youngjae entrance and he lets Youngjae take control of the kiss. There is a gentle push and pull against each other until the need to break apart to breathe. 

Youngjae’s lips are red, kiss swollen and damp with Jaebum’s saliva. Jaebum thinks he looks beautiful.

“I like you too.” He says, even though it comes out more like a whisper, his palms still resting against Youngjae’s cheeks. 

“Do you really think we can do this? There’s gonna be a lot of things I can’t tell you.”

“I’ve decided that I don’t care. This is you. You aren’t you’re job.” Jaebum says as his palms slide from Youngjae’s cheeks down to rest on the back of his neck. “Besides,” He says, lips quirking up at the corners. “What’s the harm in trying?”

Youngjae’s answering smile is brighter than every star in the sky and he looks so ethereal like this. His eyes are dark, sparkling crescents, pushed up by his cheeks and his hair is splayed around his head in halo against the fabric of the couch. His fingers are tangled in Jaebum’s hair and neither of them have ever been happier.

 

It’s not easy, though. Not at first. It turns out that reclaiming the agency is a lot more work than one might initially anticipate. Jaebum doesn’t actually see a lot of Youngjae in the first few weeks after their mutual confession. As soon as his wound is healed enough to get back in the field he leaves even though Jaebum tries to convince him not to. Youngjae just plants a kiss on his cheek and promises to be safe. Still, Jaebum is nervous for the whole day and he can barely get any work done until around nine o’clock Youngjae phones him to let him know that he’s okay. He also fills Jaebum in with as much detail as he’s allowed. Jaebum can hear Mark and Jinyoung teasing Youngjae in the back ground. 

It becomes routine for them. Every day at nine o’clock Youngjae phones Jaebum just to check in an let him know that he’s okay. After about four weeks Youngjae phones him, sounding more excited than usual. They’ve finally done it. Jinyoung is head of the agency and they are in negotiations with the group that tried to overtake them. Their listening to what the other groups wants from them. They are fellow agents after all and their dissatisfaction should be taken into account when establishing a new way of running things. There will be a penalty for all of the people who participated in the mutiny for all the injuries they caused but apparently Jinyoung is preaching open-mindedness and tolerance now that he’s running things. He wants to make it so that the agents aren’t afraid to come to him with things they have problems with. 

Youngjae is given a couple weeks of medical leave after things have settled down and he spends it with Jaebum. They go on dates just like a normal couple, even a couple double dates with Jackson and his girlfriend, whom he has forgiven for not telling him about her father. Jaebum learns that everything Youngjae ever told him about his family and friends or his childhood was all true. He won’t lie, its definitely a relief knowing that if Youngjae can’t tell him about something he won’t lie about it. 

They still fight sometimes. Mostly about stupid mundane stuff but sometimes it’s more serious than that. Youngjae will get hurt on the job or he’ll forget to call Jaebum and tell him he’s alright. Sometimes Jaebum will get so caught up in his school work that he won’t answer when Youngjae phones him and he’ll be disrupted by the spy picking the lock to his front doornail bursting into his bedroom, thinking he had been captured or something. 

The first time it happened Youngjae had started crying with happiness when he realized that Jaebum was fine. They do their best to communicate and tell each other when things are going wrong but it isn’t easy.

It may not be simple, but it’s definitely worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell with me on tumblr!! thegarbagecan.tumblr.com!!!


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